I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to document collating and envelope inserting systems and, more particularly, to such a system having a display means for displaying indicia provided on a summary document and a display means for displaying the count of a second document, whereby the count may be verified by an operator.
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Document collating systems, especially those systems that are adapted for inserting the collated documents into an envelope for mailing, are widely used by a variety of industries for disseminating product and billing information. The high speed, virtually unattended operation of such systems has resulted in the automation of a traditionally slow and error prone-process, freeing the employees of such industries for more productive and creative labor.
One industry where such systems have proven beneficial is the banking industry, especially to those banks that provide checking accounts to their customers. The use of such a system allows the bank to automate the monthly check account cycle, whereby the bank mails each customer a statement which reflects the months's checking account activity. Included with the statement the bank typically returns to the customer are all of the customer's checks that were received and paid by the bank during the month. Normally, each check paid by the bank will also appear on the monthly statement within an itemized list of such checks, the list conveying certain other information such as the date a check was paid, the fluctuating amount of the balance in the account, and other financial data as is well known.
One important item of information included upon a checking account statement is a number which indicates the total number of a customer's checks paid by the bank during the month. This number should also indicate the number of paid checks enclosed with the statement, and serves as both an indicator to the bank of the accuracy of the statement and as an aid to the customer in verifying the accuracy of the financial data contained within the statement.
This number may be provided on the statement in several different formats, such as a bar code, or imprinted with magnetic ink, or simply as a number typed on the statement. If the number is provided as a bar code or is imprinted with magnetic ink the number is suitable for being read directly by the collating and envelope inserting system, if the system is equipped with a suitable reading mechanism. Also, if the system is equipped with a counting mechanism for counting the checks associated with each statement, the system may automatically compare the number appearing on the statement, representing the expected number of checks, to the actual number counted. Thus, it is possible for the system itself to verify the accuracy of the number of checks associated with each statement before the two document types are inserted into an envelope for mailing to the customer. If there is a disparity between the number appearing on the statement and the number of checks actually being sent to the customer, the system can automatically divert the statement and checks away from a path normally taken by the documents on their way to an envelope inserting station. The system can also indicate to an operator that an error has occurred. One such system of the prior art wherein the control of the system is effectuated by indicia provided on a document is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,429, said patent issued to the assignee of the present invention, said patent further being incorporated herein by reference.
As may be appreciated, such a number reading and verification mechanism can significantly increase the complexity and, hence, the cost of a collating and inserting system, thereby making the acquisition of such a system impractical for many smaller banks and financial institutions.
As is generally well known, there has been a proliferation of small banks and savings and loan institutions in this country in recent years. Since many of these banks and institutions provide checking services to their customers, the increase in the numbers of such banks and institutions has created a need for a lower cost collating and envelope inserting system. Such a system must provide a sufficient degree of automation to justify the purchase of the system, and yet not be priced beyond the reach of the small institution. A way to achieve this goal of producing a lower cost system is to provide a lesser degree of automation and, hence, require more operator involvement with the system. One such operator interaction is to verify that the number of paid customer checks to be enclosed with the statement agrees with the number indicated on the statement.
One such lower cost system of the prior art is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,181, said patent issued to the assignee of the present invention, said patent being incorporated herein by reference in its entirey. The inserting apparatus disclosed in the above named patent is comprised of a check feeder and stacker having a resettable counter for indicating the actual number of checks fed. The apparatus is also comprised of a bank statement folder and feeder which provides a bank statement associated with a set of fed checks.
In operation, the operator visually examines a predetermined number provided on the statement while the statement is held in a feeder hopper, thereby comparing the number to the value displayed by the check counter. If the two numbers are in agreement an insert switch is provided for activation by the operator, the activation of which causes the statement to be folded and fed, collated with the stack of checks, and conveyed by a transport belt to an envelope inserting machine to be inserted within an envelope. If the two numbers are not in agreement, the operator may remove and replace the checks within the check feeder to be recounted or, may remove the checks and associated statement for further study.
As may be appreciated, since the predetermined number provided on the statement must be viewed by the operator while the statement is still in the feed hopper, the operator may find such a method of viewing to be disadvantageous for several reasons. Firstly, the operator may find such a method of viewing to be physically uncomfortable and fatiguing, resulting in operator error in reading of the number. Secondly, it may be necessary for the operator to lean over the system to view the number, thereby possibly exposing the operator to safety hazards associated with the moving components of the system. Thirdly, because only one set of documents are processed at a given time, the overall operation may be time consuming.